# Sandy, a Hurricane? Poor Gloria, how soon they forget you, my dear... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 31, 2012, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401 "2012-10-31T06:20:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/1 "2012-10-31T06:20:09Z")
Ok, I was wrong in the other thread. She never reached Cat 5, she only hit 4. And she was probably a 3 when she got to me. Still, that was in '85. NYC has seen worse. Much worse. Why everyone is freaking out about Sandy escapes me. It was _only_ 27 years ago. Surely at least your _parents_ mentioned that hurricane in '85??? Didn’t they??? And the ‘destruction’ is, of course, much less. Fuck, that thing is _still_ south of the PA/NY line. I’m gonna see it tomorrow. She might even go _over_ me. But, _fuck_, that ain’t much to deal with, after [G-L-O-R-I-A!!!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPDixDqAUh0) [sub]Ya know, the dancing children at about 7.30 into that vid are _my_ age? Those kids are all growed up, and turning decrepit, like me! _Le Morrison est mort, Vive le Morrison!_[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/2 "2012-10-31T06:49:20Z")
The NWS seems to have lost a couple of radar sites. There _was_ a hurricane heading my way, in northern PA, and _now_ it looks like clear sky. Where did that big, rotating mass of rain go? Oops it’s coming here. And it apparently killed a couple of their radar sites. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/3 "2012-10-31T12:14:49Z")
Well I remember Gloria because it was the weekend of my brother’s Bar Mitzvah; it wasn’t anything more than a moderately strong storm when it hit NYC. Never a power outage, not even a flicker, and the storm surge didn’t overtop the seawall. It made landfall in NC _during low tide_ weakening its impact. Gloria caused property damage out on Long Island, but Sandy was about 1,000x as destructive in practical terms, here in NYC. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/4 "2012-10-31T12:18:12Z")
Gloria nailed Connecticut, and the Eastern part was hit harder because Gloria sped up a lot near landfall and vector physics kicked in, but I don’t recall anything along the lines of what NYC is looking at right now. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/5 "2012-10-31T12:33:04Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > And the ‘destruction’ is, of course, much less. [No, not even fucking close.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Gloria) Even if you were right, who is supposed to give a shit? Do everybody a favor and shut the fuck up. Maybe let some people get their electricity back before you start telling them they should remember a storm from 25 years ago that was much, much worse. And by much worse, I mean it caused maybe a tenth as much damage and probably less. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/6 "2012-10-31T13:06:11Z")
I bet those dozen or so people that Sandy killed are feeling pretty stupid right about now. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/7 "2012-10-31T13:20:54Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I bet those dozen or so people that Sandy killed are feeling pretty stupid right about now. I believe the death toll is up around 50. 22 in NYC alone. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/8 "2012-10-31T13:25:46Z")
Wow. Even more embarrassed corpses than we even thought, huh Cheshire? ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/9 "2012-10-31T13:31:16Z")
They were very different storms. Gloria ripped across Long Island and Manhattan got a lot of rain. The surge of Gloria was nothing like the storm surge created by Sandy. With Gloria tunnels didn’t get flooded, the subway never got shut down, there was no fire that decimated 80 homes, the Jersey Shore did not get trashed and on and on. How you can begin to make a comparison is mind-boggling. But then, when I was a kid I used to walk to and from school every day in three feet of snow. It was uphill in both directions. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/10 "2012-10-31T13:32:06Z")
Yeah but those 8 who died during Gloria knew what a \*real \*storm was like. Sure it was only 8 compared to 50, but people were tougher back then. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/11 "2012-10-31T21:15:17Z")
Those 8 took a LOT of killin’ ---
**Author:** ![Morelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Morelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morelin)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/12 "2012-10-31T22:06:17Z")
Gloria absolutely ruined my 5th birthday because the ice cream cake melted. And every year for the past two decades my family loves to remind me how traumatized I was by it. But I think Sandy is definitely worse. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/13 "2012-10-31T22:06:58Z")
> [@Marley's Ghost](#): > > [No, not even fucking close.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Gloria) Even if you were right, who is supposed to give a shit? Do everybody a favor and shut the fuck up. Maybe let some people get their electricity back before you start telling them they should remember a storm from 25 years ago that was much, much worse. And by much worse, I mean it caused maybe a tenth as much damage and probably less. Seriously. What a fucking douche. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/14 "2012-10-31T22:26:53Z")
I was in NYC for both storms. During Gloria I was working at Pier 93 on the Hudson River until the Port Authority kicked us out…it was a great view of the storm. But the thing I remember about Gloria was that it moved FAST. …I got kicked off the pier, took a bus crosstown to my apartment on the East Side, got together with my best friend and hunkered down with food and strong drink…and it was over, the winds died down and the sun even started peaking out by mid-afternoon. Sandy was way worse, it lasted forever and when I walked outside for 10 feet to retrieve a large piece of debris it was SCARY…I waited at a bus stop for 10 minutes during the height of Gloria and it wasn’t nearly that bad. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/15 "2012-10-31T22:43:53Z")
Something I’ve been wondering, but I haven’t been watching the news to find out about it: New York has a pretty significant homeless population, yeah? In popular media, a hallmark of NYC is bums and homeless in the streets, begging at subway stations or pushing around carts full of trash. Of these deaths being reported, do they include homeless? Or is the unreported death toll potentially a lot higher, because there’s people who haven’t been found/reported because they’re more or less hidden and out of the way? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/16 "2012-10-31T22:44:09Z")
There is a long and proud tradition of stupid threads on the Straight Dope Message Board. Cheshire Human I’m not saying you are number one but welcome to the Hall of Fame. Congrats. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/17 "2012-10-31T23:11:05Z")
> [@Bigghoul](#): > > I believe the death toll is up around 50. 22 in NYC alone. Those are only the U.S. deaths. There were 60-something deaths in Caribbean. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/18 "2012-10-31T23:20:59Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Those are only the U.S. deaths. There were 60-something deaths in Caribbean. The _Caribbean_? What’s that? USA! USA! USA! Seriously, Sandy was a bitch all around. I remember Gloria. I was at work where the boss refused to let anyone go home. I left anyway and then, later, felt he was right about pishawing it. Now, if I lived in New Jersey, then Gloria would probably had left a more lasting impression. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/19 "2012-10-31T23:24:12Z")
> [@Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Josh "Tank" Watts](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-let-your-babies-grow-up-to-be-josh-tank-watts/639299/60): > > Just pat the bastard on the head, and say “nice pitting”, then mutter ‘idiot’, as you walk away. Nice Pitting. \<_incomprehensible muttering…_\> ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401/20 "2012-10-31T23:24:39Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > They were very different storms. Gloria ripped across Long Island and Manhattan got a lot of rain. The surge of Gloria was nothing like the storm surge created by Sandy. With Gloria tunnels didn’t get flooded, the subway never got shut down, there was no fire that decimated 80 homes, the Jersey Shore did not get trashed and on and on. To be fair, Jersey Shore was trashed way before Sandy came along [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandy-a-hurricane-poor-gloria-how-soon-they-forget-you-my-dear/639401.md?page=2)